Vehicles such as an electric automobile, a hybrid vehicle, and a fuel cell vehicle recently draws public attention as eco-friendly vehicles. The vehicle is equipped with an electric motor for generating traveling drive force, and a power storage device for storing electric power to be supplied to the electric motor. The hybrid vehicle is a vehicle further equipped with an internal combustion engine as a mechanical power source in addition to the electric motor, and the fuel cell vehicle is a vehicle equipped with a fuel cell as a DC power source for driving the vehicle.
With regard to such a vehicle, there is a known vehicle having a power storage device equipped in the vehicle for driving the vehicle so as to be chargeable from a power source for household use. For example, a power supply receptacle provided in a building and a charging inlet provided in the vehicle are connected to each other by a charging cable so as to supply the electric power from the power source for household use to the power storage device. Hereinafter, it should be noted that the vehicle having the power storage device equipped in the vehicle so as to be chargeable from the power source outside of the vehicle is also referred to as a “plug-in vehicle”. The standards on such a plug-in vehicle have already been set in the United States and Japan.
However, when such a plug-in vehicle is charged at night, a connector for charging is not easily connected to the charging inlet as it is dark to see the charging inlet of the vehicle. Thus, Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 06-290836 (Patent Document 1) discloses a technique of providing a light in a charging connector.